We have already had some very fabulous David Attenborough moments.  On the way back down from the Whitsundays to Sydney September-October last year we saw what we reckon was about 200 whales.  No not all at once, and yes sometimes it might have been the same one popping up again to confuse us… But – a lot of sightings!  Each as exciting as could be.  Some were just a spout or two on the horizon, while other more co-operative cetaceans did incredible gymnastic feats right up close to the boat, complete with tail waving and acrobatic leaping and splashing.  Just wonderful.  Very hard to concentrate on Collision Regulations but fortunately we didn’t know about them, last year.  We would just see a boat and say, “Oh look, there’s a boat.  With pretty flags.  I wonder where they are going?”  Whereas now we will be scanning other boats anxiously for signs of distress, restriction in draught, trawling and/or fishing; running aground, operating a diving unit…

The mainland whales were indeed fabulous but very recently we had a day of nature overload, just here in the Derwent.  We took my daughter Claire, her husband Stuart, their children Jemima (3) and Felix (not yet one) along with Hamish and Angus, the senior grandchildren in my family (soon to turn 11 and 9) for a lunchtime cruise down as far as Denne’s Point, on North Bruny.  Not very far from town at all.  Hamish and Angus were very happy because they caught a mass of squid.  Beautiful fish which squirted big quantities of black ink at them.  Pete and I had a hands-on Nature Study lesson that night as we learned how to clean them – a very laborious task.  Hamish and Angus were totally exhausted, otherwise we would have made them arise from their recliner chairs in front of the TV and help.  Next time, we told them!  Angus looked at us, with some irritation, and said, “But, after all, we CAUGHT them!” as if they had done all of the hard work.  It was in fact worth the effort.  I am very squeamish but I got over it – I didn’t want these beautiful fish to have died for nothing, so I got into peeling and scraping and preparing them.  And they were indeed totally delicious.

The squid were just the beginning.  We saw flocks of little penguins (sadly no longer called fairy penguins) and the usual gulls, silver and pacific.  A large pod of dolphins leapt past, not all that close to the boat, but still close to make us very happy.  There were also several seals, not at all alarmed by the boat.  Pete steered towards one of them, which was lolling about lethargically on its back.  As we got closer we could see that it was enjoying itself very much tormenting a large octopus – throwing it into the air, catching it, letting it go, repeating the process.  Not long after this, as we were going past Tinderbox, I saw a long black shape in the water straight ahead.  I alerted Pete Attenborough, who steered straight towards it, and prepared Claire for a possible sighting of – a whale!  Claire is 35 and has been wanting to see a whale all of her life.  Recently they have been leaping and prancing not far from her house in Blackmans Bay – “Oh it’s not fair!” she says, in plaintive tones.  “I walk on the beach every single day and am always there just after or just before a whale sighting!”  She thought she was going to be like her mother and not see a whale until she was sixty.  But there it ws, right in front of us; unmistakably a whale!  The whale saw us and very obliging swam right up to and then under the boat, bringing with it a calf. 

So how wonderful was that??  Perfect warm sunny weather, calm seas, sparkling water, an abundance of entrancing wildlife, right on our doorstep!